UDL Everywhere Always

Presented at 10:00am in Virtual B on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

#32232

Speaker(s)

Christa Miller, Associate Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Virginia Tech

Session Details

Length of Session: 45 minutes
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: Beginner
Type of session: Pre-conference

Summary

As Universal Design for Learning (UDL) grows in popularity throughout education, it is worth considering its application to all learning opportunities. For example, UDL allowed Virginia Tech to improve their Certified Accessibility Professionals Grant program. Participants will explore where UDL can support learning opportunities for them.

Abstract

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has made headway in adoption by Higher Education. However, the majority of implementation initiatives, training opportunities, and case studies relate exclusively to UDL adoption by teaching faculty. While this is critical to the success of accessibility improvements, UDL researchers and practitioners agree that UDL applies to all learning. Be it one-on-one, in small groups, or large groups, UDL has the power to improve our communication and improve the reception of our message. Putting UDL everywhere always has greatly improved the cohort based Certified Accessibility Professionals Grant at Virginia Tech. What started as a didactic training program has improved dramatically through a UDL approach to professional development. In particular, the number of new applicants and new allies has increased since 2018. In this interactive session, participants will explore how to apply UDL to learning opportunities at their institution.

Keypoints

The UDL framework applies to learning opportunities beyond the traditional classroom.
UDL increases participant engagement and impact of professional development.
Use a scaffolded approach to implementing UDL to non-traditional classroom learning.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Accessible Course Design, Faculty Development & Support, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Christa Miller

Christa Miller is currently the Associate Director for Services for Students with Disabilities at Virginia Tech (VT). She has a BS Electrical Engineering (2008) and MS Industrial Systems Engineering (2012) both from VT. She started working in VT's Assistive Technologies group in 2006 as a student employee teaching students how to use assistive and accessible technologies. From 2010 to 2015, she transcribed STEM materials into Braille, and then transitioned into teaching instructors to create accessible educational materials by design.

For the last several years, she's helped VT grow their digital accessibility footprint by helping to establish the centralized captioning fund, building up the campus' Accessibility Network, creating training on PDF accessibility, and leading cohorts of individuals preparing for the IAAP CPACC Certification.

Christa is an active member of regional and national disability and accessibility organizations (AHEAD in VA, AHEAD, ATHEN, and Accessing Higher Ground). When she has the opportunity, her research interests include accessibility in STEM courses and Universal Design for Learning.